TAYLOR, MI -- A state labor judge has recommended that a lawsuit challenging a 10-year agreement to protect union dues in the Taylor school district be dismissed, according to the Associated Press.

The school district and its teachers, just before a state law banning mandatory union dues took effect, agreed last year to a contract that ensures collection of union dues or service fees for 10 years.

The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation sued on behalf of three Taylor teachers, calling the contract an attempt to circumvent Michigan's right-to-work law.

A Wayne County Circuit Court judge dismissed the lawsuit in July, leading the plaintiffs to file a complaint with the state's labor relations agency.

Administrative law judge Julia Stern recommended the Michigan Employment Relations Commission dismiss the complaint in a Dec. 27 decision, according to the AP's Ed White.

"It is not the Commission's role to modify the terms of a lawful contract on public policy grounds," Stern wrote.

The Taylor and Warren school districts, as well as Wayne State University, were among many educational institutions around the state that agreed to labor contracts extending union dues collection just before the right-to-work law took effect in March 2013.

"If 10 years is acceptable, why not 50? Why not 99?" Mackinac Center Legal Foundation attorney Derk Wilcox told White. "The logic of this ruling means that local governments, by enacting specific agreements for long periods of time, could sidestep state laws they disagree with."